To ensure the safety of schoolchildren who travel by school vehicles, an inspection of such vehicles was conducted at the Armed Reserve Grounds on Tuesday.
The inspection was carried out by the district-level inter-departmental committee comprising officials drawn from the district administration, police, education and transport departments.
“If the vehicles pass all the mandatory safety regulations and have been maintained according to the checklist we have, we are issuing Fitness Certificate and a sticker to be displayed on the vehicles certifying them as safe,” said Revenue Divisional Officer M. Senthilkumari, who was a part of the inspection committee.
The committee checked 338 vehicles, 24 of which were found to have defects and their FC was temporarily cancelled.
Can re-apply
“The schools that have the FC cancelled for their vehicles can re-apply after making all the corrections in the vehicles in the next few days. The vehicles can be taken to the Regional Transport Office concerned for a fresh inspection,” an official said.
The vehicles were checked for proper emergency exits, strong flooring, display of contact information of the school, overhead cabin bins and first aid boxes.
In total, 1,247 vehicles in the district had been checked. “The motor vehicle inspectors in Melur, Vadipatti and Usilampatti have checked the school vehicles in their respective areas,” said K. Kalyanakumar, RTO, Madurai North.
An eye camp was conducted for 145 drivers and helpers from schools after the inspection and they were offered a subsidy of 50 per cent on new spectacles. Eight persons were referred for advanced treatment.
Addressing them, M. Govindarajan, Inspector of Matriculation Schools, said: “The drivers should be concerned about the safety of the students. They should also ensure that the vehicles are maintained well so that accidents are prevented,” he said. M. Singaravelu, RTO, Madurai South, and A.G. Babu, Assistant Commissioner of Police (Traffic), were present.
Mandatory checks
The inspection of school buses for the issuance of Fitness Certificate had been made mandatory at the start of every academic year after a six-year-old girl was run over by her school bus when she slipped through a hole on the floor of the vehicle in Chennai in July 2012.
The government then issued the Tamil Nadu Educational Institutions Special Rules, 2012, which laid down strict guidelines for issuing FCs for vehicles transporting schoolchildren.
